News

This week, Fitch Ratings said that the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) review of the London Market could result in lower pricing and it becoming more competitive with smaller hubs across the world.

This week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a market study to assess how competition is working in the wholesale insurance broker sector, and also released ‘FCA Mission–Our Future Approach to Consumers’.

This week, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) held its annual conference in Kuala Lumpur. It announced a unified path to convergence of group capital standards in furtherance of its ultimate goal of a single Insurance Capital Standard, and also agreed a five-year agreement to enhance the actuarial skills of supervisory authorities.

The investment landscape for 2018 is already looking intriguingly different to almost any year since the great financial crisis (GFC) nailed interest rates to the floor and introduced us to quantitative easing. Indeed, it could come to be seen as the real start of a post-GFC era.

Two surveys by Wiraya revealed that the relationships between brands and consumers in the UK insurance market have deteriorated to the point of estrangement, with providers assuming claims are twice as inflated as customers actually admit.

This week, it was announced that the insurance industry is joining forces with technology companies and governments in a World Economic Forum-led initiative to avoid catastrophic levels of uninsured risk in the innovation economy.

Douglas Shillito It was a significant week for InsurTech. Aviva is to acquire a majority stake in low cost “robo” investment service Wealthify, and Slice Labs announced a further $11.6m investment for its US on-demand insurance platform – investors include Munich Re, Sompo, and XL Group – the latter is also working with UK-based start-up […]

This week, Lloyd’s posted reduced pre-tax profits for the first half (£1.22bn compared with £1.46bn) which does not include estimates for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma (present Lloyd’s loss estimate of £3.4bn).

This week, the annual Monte Carlo Rendezvous was the highlight, not for the first time coinciding with a major hurricane. It will take some time to assess the insured losses through Hurricane Irma. AIR Worldwide’s latest estimate is between $20-40bn less than first thought. Munich Re reported that it may make a loss in the third quarter, but other reinsurers have still to provide an assessment.

As the annual Monte Carlo Rendezvous begins, the Atlantic hurricane season is in full swing, with Hurricane Harvey rapidly followed by Irma which is about to hit Florida as we write. Insurers, reinsurers, and ILS may be in for a major pounding. Air Worldwide and CoreLogic provide latest estimates of potential insured losses.